Laced footwear, as well as footwear having other means for fastening the vamps over a longitudinal tongue extending over the instep, suffer from the long-standing problem of the tongue tending to slip off to the lateral side of the foot, at least partly as a result of the shape of the instep. This problem is particularly aggravated in athletic shoes, such as tennis shoes, baseball shoes, basketball shoes and other sport shoes wherein extreme pressure is repeatedly placed on the feet in lateral directions.
When the shoe tongue slips off to the lateral side of the foot, the laces, buckles, eyelet grommets or other fastening members directly engage the instep, tending to cause discomfort and possible injury. Moreover, when the tongue slips to the lateral side, the shoe tends to become loose on the wearer's foot. Sport and specialized athletic footwear particularly tend to suffer from slippage of the tongue. In many instances dress shoes also tend to suffer from the above described slippage, particularly after moderate to long periods of wear, which not only causes discomfort to the wearer, but also detracts from the aesthetic appeal of the footwear.
One effort which has been made to avoid the above-mentioned slippage is to attach the tongue to the toe cap or forward upper of the shoe with heavier or increased numbers of rows of stitching in an effort to avoid the tendency for the tongue to bend laterally into the slipped position described herein. However, this solution has been somewhat unsatisfactory in that the increased stitching can be unattractive and can cause discomfort to the wearer of the shoe. Increasing the stiffness of the tongue is also an unappealing option due to lack of compliance of the tongue with movement of the foot, particularly in sport type shoes.
Another effort which has been made to avoid tongue slippage is to provide footwear wherein a single, unitary tongue is attached to the medial vamp section by an elastic or stretchable member which normally holds the tongue in its preferred working position. However, the elasticity or stretchability of the attachment member may allow the tongue to slip to the lateral side of the foot during use thereby failing to solve the tongue slippage problem.
Still further, prior footwear has been developed wherein a single, unitary tongue may be secured (during usage of the footwear) along one side of the tongue to the medial vamp section by hook and loop fastener strips. The forward end of the tongue remains secured to the forward upper and the rearward end of the tongue is usually detached during unfastening and removal of the shoe. This type of nonreplaceable attachment of the unitary tongue to the footwear is also unsatisfactory in that hook and loop fastener strips tend to snag on the wearer's stocking or sock when donning or removing the shoe and during use. Moreover, with this type of attachment it is inevitable that the tongue will become detached sooner or later during usage of the footwear due to accumulation of lint or other material in the hoop or loop portions. Accordingly, these prior art single vamp tongue attachments have been unsatisfactory in one respect or another.
The present invention overcomes the problems mentioned hereinabove with an improved tongue construction for single vamp as well as double vamp laceable shoes and shoes using other types of fastening means between opposed vamps or upper portions of the shoe.